Motor vehicles have a body structure that delimits an interior space. Particularly, the body structure consists of an interior body panel and an exterior body panel in the area of the interior space, for example at the A, B and C pillars and at the doors. The exterior body panel defines the external limits of the motor vehicle and the interior body panel is fastened to the exterior body panel inside the exterior body panel. In this context, the interior body panel may also be a skeleton or a steel structure of any design. Many paneling parts are fastened to the interior body panel, forming an interior cladding that defines the limits of the interior space. The paneling parts are fastened to the interior body panel by a large number of detachable fastening elements. The fastening elements may be for example retaining clips or screws.
If the motor vehicle is involved in an accident, considerable deceleration values, and consequently substantial forces are generated, with which the components of the motor vehicle are slowed down. In such an event, the fastening elements are not strong enough to guarantee that the paneling parts will remain fastened to the body structure. However, it is important to prevent paneling parts from becoming detached, i.e., a significant relative movement between the paneling parts and the body structure, both to prevent injuries to the passengers and to ensure that the airbags can be deployed without obstruction. For this reason, it is known to use additional devices to fasten the paneling parts to the body structure, particularly to the interior body panel, thereby ensuring that even if the motor vehicle is involved in an accident, the paneling parts undergo little if any movement relative to the body structure, so that the airbags can be deployed without obstruction and injuries caused by detached paneling parts can be prevented.
A retaining clip for attaching a paneling part to a body structure element is known from DE 10 2010 033 849 A1. The clip includes an anchoring section for attaching the retaining clip to the body structure element, and a retaining section to which an engaging element can be attached. The retaining section is elongated and curved. A device for fastening a paneling part to an unmachined component of motor vehicle is also known from DE 10 2005 018 833 A1. The device has a seating part that protrudes from the inside of the paneling part and is secured to the unmachined component via a fastening element, and through which an element aligned transversely to the fastening direction of the paneling part extends. A retaining element fastened to the unmachined component protrudes towards the inside of the paneling part and the element aligned transversely to the fastening direction of the paneling part passes through the retaining element. A device for fastening a furnishing element to a body structure element is also known from FR 2 883 051. The device includes a first and a second piece.